Warrior

collecting byre, came back into the camp soon after.

'Izi-Yendane – Natal men,' he said. 'Skins and feathers, from the Pondo.'

'More booty?' Hervey was still observing their progress with his telescope.

'They won't have hunted, themselves. The Zulu say they're fit for nothing but fetching and carrying.'

Somervile joined them. 'Quite a procession, I see. Are they auguries?'

'I can't say, Sir Eyre. But I've just been speaking to some of the herd boys, and uncommonly free with their opinion were they. The impi gone north against Soshangane are deeply troubled. They're tired from the fighting in Pondoland, and Shaka sent them north without so much as a night in their own kraals. And he's now recalled the u-dibi, the bearers, to form into a new regiment, and told the rest – the officers as well – they must carry their own baggage.'

Somervile pondered the intelligence. 'Shaka makes malcontents of the warriors, but the u- dibi happy. And they are youths, are they not?' He smiled. 'The eternal contest of young and old buck!'

Hervey took a less sanguine view. 'I for one would be reluctant to alter the terms of service in the middle of a campaign! Most perilous, I should say.'

'Mm.' Somervile turned and took up his telescope again. 'Do you suppose Shaka intends feeding us, as he promised, or does he make a show of his power by this delay?'

'Both, I'm sure,' said Hervey.

'Mm. Fairbrother, do you think you might discover when these brothers will arrive? That way we shall at least know not to dress too early.'

Hervey hid his smile.

'I'll go back, of course, Sir Eyre,' said Fairbrother. 'A few buttons and those boys will be as good as on the strength.'

'I am excessively grateful. And now I think I will take a little exercise. Shall you accompany me, Colonel Hervey? We might ride to the north a little way and see how the ocean looks. Yon clouds are heavy, but there's no sign of their decanting onto us.'

Sometimes there was nothing for Hervey to do but be diverted by his old friend's archness. 'Delighted, Sir Eyre.'

And as Fairbrother went to find beads and trinkets for the herd boys, Somervile confided that he was pleased beyond all expectations that Hervey's friend was of such good service, for although his own facility with the language was better than he had dared suppose, once the true business of 'diplomacy' began he would need more than a merely serviceable knowledge of Xhosa. 'But beyond that, his ease with the country is a pearl of special worth. If anything should happen to prevent my doing so myself, I trust that you will ensure so singular a fellow has due recognition and reward.'

* * *

Fairbrother left them as they were getting into the saddle.With perhaps a couple of hours' full daylight left (some of which the blackening clouds might claim), he made his way on foot to the collecting byre. The herd boys were once again pleased to talk to him. Shaka's brothers Dingane and Mhlangana had come into the kraal by one of the entrances on the far side reserved for the king and his officials, they said. Mbopa had met them, and taken them to his hut, while Shaka received the Izi-Yendane, the 'mop heads' from Natal, and examined the skins and feathers they had brought from Pondoland.

Fairbrother gave them the beads and other little charms. He felt almost as if he bargained too easily: herd boys, thought nothing of by the men of the kraal, would always learn more than they ought; and, being boys, they would always be keen to prove they knew more than was supposed. He drank fermented milk with them, and listened as they spoke keenly of becoming u-dibi, and in due course inkwebane, and one day warriors, and how they would go then to where the sun goes, and make all before them submit to Shaka.

And what of their friends, who had been sent to the Fasimba, he asked them.

The herd boys shrugged. Shaka had said they were not to drink milk, and they had defied him. If they had been dutiful they would have been drinking it today, as much as they pleased, for Shaka had now declared the mourning to be over.

And then one of them sprang to his feet and pointed excitedly. 'Look! It is Shaka!'

They got up from their haunches to see better where he pointed.

Fairbrother saw. 'Where does he go? And by himself.'

'To Kwa-Nyakamubi,' they all said.

'Kwa-Nyakamubi?'

'The other side of the hill. Shaka goes each evening to watch his special cattle being driven in for the night. Soon, we shall be herders of Kwa-Nyakamubi!'

'And he always goes alone?'

'Si-gi-di, He who is equal to a thousand warriors, has no need of others!'

'I will go and watch the cattle being driven in too,' said Fairbrother, making to leave them. 'Do you think Si-gi-di will permit that?'

The herd boys could barely comprehend the notion that anyone might do such a thing without Shaka's express authority. But what did they know, who were not yet even u-dibi – and he, Fairbrother, a great warrior?

He left them and made his way (unobserved, he trusted) by every shallow fold of the veld. Even taking such precautions, in but a quarter of an hour he had reached Kwa-Nyakamubi, which was little more than a thorn-fenced enclosure, a hundred yards across, with a few huts for the chosen herd boys.

Shaka was sitting quite alone, except for two ancient attendants nearby, on a clay mound near the entrance